Pariah: Outtakes
by Starfire201
Summary: A selection of short scenes that for one reason or another never made it into Pariah.
1. Skyfire: Foundation

**A/N:** Welcome to Pariah Outtakes. This will be a one-shot series of scenes that I initially wrote for Pariah that I couldn't make fit or had to rewrite, such as the case may be. Just some fillers to show how it might have looked from another character's POV or other possibilities of what direction it could have gone. Will be ongoing for the duration of Pariah.

Thank you to **silberstreif** for the suggestion for this series.

Some of you might recognize the following scene from Chapter 13 of Pariah. There is a reason for that. Initially, when I wrote that memory scene for Starscream, I had done it originally from Skyfire's POV. When I was done, I realized it would look a bit too strange, since Starscream was having this memory and not Skyfire, so I altered it accordingly.

Here is what I originally wrote. It has been expanded on slightly and edited to be a bit more readable.

* * *

**Skyfire: Foundation**

"Why did you refuse my withdrawal request?"

The unexpected question had Skyfire looking up to see his best student standing in front of him with a datapad clenched tightly in his hands, optics glowing brightly, wings trembling with rage.

Skyfire couldn't say he was surprised by this outburst. The jet had made it quite clear in his request that he'd had enough and more or less stated that he wanted to be out of the Academy as quickly as Skyfire could put his name glyphs to the withdrawal form. Skyfire tended to keep aware of his students' personalities and knew Starscream had a temper. He'd known that the moment he sent the refusal, Starscream would be marching in to argue his way out.

And that was something Skyfire wasn't about to let happen.

The Valkyrie laid down the essays he'd been grading, and looked straight at the other flier. "Because it would be a shame to see you throwing your talent away. That's why." He spoke the words calmly and evenly.

The Seeker snarled, "Why bother? They all want me gone anyway. I know some of the other instructors have said to you that it's too bad you have a war-build who's always causing trouble in your class." He threw the datapad down onto the desk. "So why don't you just sign this and put us all out of our misery?"

Instead of taking the datapad, Skyfire just leaned forward and looked at him speculatively for a moment before speaking. "Is this how you intend to solve all your problems, Starscream? By running away?"

A startled look appeared on his student's face, and he didn't answer. Clearly, he hadn't expected that question. Skyfire gave a small smile.

"Because it seems to me that by just withdrawing and returning to Vos, you would give those who are trying to force you out just what they want. You're letting them win."

The startled expression disappeared and was replaced with a sullen one. "You wouldn't understand."

Skyfire shook his head as some old hurtful memories resurfaced. He couldn't keep a bitter smile from his face. "You're wrong. I'm a flier, too, Starscream. You don't think I haven't had my own difficult experiences here? How many other fliers have you seen at the Academy?"

Starscream's optics widened and he didn't respond. Skyfire noticed, and pushed his advantage. "It wasn't easy for me to deal with the comments, either. Some orns, I also wanted to quit."

A surprised look appeared on the other flier's face. "So why did you stay?" The tone was a mixture of curiosity and hurt. Skyfire wasn't surprised. As Starscream had said, other instructors had "suggested" to him that it would be a good idea if he failed the young mech. And he'd heard some of the other tales that had circulated of his temper and lack of work ethic. The temper issue, Skyfire could agree with, but he had a bit of a temper of his own and had learned how to channel it over the vorns. It would be a challenge, but he suspected he could do the same for Starscream given time. But if Starscream left, that wouldn't happen.

As for the lack of work ethic, well, Skyfire knew that part was a lie. He didn't even want to think of what some of his fellow instructors might have done, but unfortunately, he thought he could hazard a pretty good guess.

But that was speculation best left for later. Right now, he had to convince his best student that leaving would be a mistake. Starscream had asked a good question and deserved an answer. Skyfire would give him one.

Skyfire leaned back in his chair. "I had an instructor of my own who appreciated my ability." How well he remembered Celsion's lessons. The mech hadn't been a flier, but he'd been one of the most open-minded mechs Skyfire had ever known. A mech who'd obviously cared for science and had appreciated having a student so willing and eager to learn in spite of being the target of some cruel jokes. _Seems like I'm following in his footsteps now_, he thought half-ruefully, half-amusedly. Knowing this was his last chance to convince the Seeker, he sighed and continued in a more level tone: "Starscream, it's easy to see that you have a natural aptitude for Biomechanics and Engineering. You pick up and utilize skills quickly and very seldom make an error. When you do make one, you just keep running it over and over until you get the experiment error-free. That indicates strong interest as well. Ability and interest are not confined to one particular frame-type, regardless of what anyone else says."

Starscream didn't answer. He just stared at Skyfire as though he'd never seen him before.

Skyfire looked him in the optics, knowing he had him now. "So which will it be, Starscream? Staying and proving what you can do? Or running away?"

Starscream didn't answer right away, just stared with that same gob-smacked expression. Then, after a few kliks, a sneer replaced it and he said snidely, "Fine, but only because I choose to. Not because you said not to go."

With that, he grabbed the datapad off of the desk and stormed out of the room. Skyfire shook his head and chuckled as he went back to the essays. _Primus, what have I gotten myself into?_

Skyfire had the feeling that his life was certainly about to get far more interesting.


	2. The Paths Not Taken 1

**A/N:** The following two sections were pieces I initially wrote to begin the chapters of chapters 5 and 14.

For chapter 5, my initial idea was to show a bit of the direct aftermath of Simfur, basically describing the reactions of both the survivors and the Autobots, and trying to show when the seeds of distrust were planted between them and the Neutrals. But it wasn't going where I wanted it to go, and I wasn't sure how best to continue it, so I eventually discarded that idea, soon after coming up with the scene in the Medbay between Ratchet and Optimus.

The section for chapter 14 was my 1st idea to start out the chapter. I was trying to come up with a good lead-up to the conversation between TC and Starscream, but again, I couldn't really make it go as I wanted to. It didn't feel right. But I did like a few of the ideas I came up with (the comm. call, Megatron's actions, the description of the arena) and ended up incorporating pieces of those into what became the final version of the chapter.

In both cases, the differences are very obvious.

* * *

**The Paths Not Taken**

_Original planned start for Chapter 5_

**Iacon, Autobot Headquarters, 15 orns later**

Looking back long afterwards, if he were asked, Optimus Prime would willingly admit that the orns following the battle at Simfur and its destruction proved to be dark ones for the Autobots. The loss of one of the more important city-states had been a heavy blow for morale in what was left of the troops, dropping further when the fact became known that they had lost over a third of the soldiers sent there.

The scouts sent to search the ruins had eventually discovered a handful of survivors, about thirty of them, but by and large, the efforts had become more recovery rather than search and rescue. Jazz and some of his agents attempted to piece together the ruined databases of the city in order to determine a final death toll for the city. What they'd learned from those databases was even worse than Prime had feared. The city had contained nearly seventeen thousand mechs and femmes. The shells and limbs pulled out were eventually pieced together, and when the final count was made, it seemed that approximately twelve thousand had perished; though some of those victims were suspected to be those who had died of starvation before the walls fell. Around five thousand mechs and femmes were still unaccounted for, and there was no way to confirm if they were prisoners of the Decepticons or had been outside of Simfur before the siege began.

And if they were prisoners, there was no doubt in the processors of Optimus or his officers that they were already as good as dead. Megatron had likely either reprogrammed them to serve in his ranks or had them killed in revenge for the insult he had received. As for the known survivors, most had preferred to take their chances living in the ruins. The majority seemed to blame the Autobots as much as the Decepticons for what had happened to the city, believing they should have come sooner. If they had, many of the survivors said, the city wouldn't have fallen and they wouldn't have been slaughtered. Only seven had chosen to join the ranks of the Autobots. Not enough to balance the losses the Autobots had taken in the battle, but every few helped.

Unfortunately, the words left a lasting effect. At the officers' meeting fifteen orns after the battle, when Jazz had given his report on what the survivors had said, Ironhide had leaped from his chair, furious.

"Their blasted Emirate caused the siege in the first place! Where do those slaggers get off blaming _us_ for what happened to their city?!"

"Ironhide..." began Optimus. While he privately agreed with Ironhide's statements, he also knew that at this point, casting blame would not help matters. He let out a tired intake and continued.

"They are speaking from grief and anger. They have seen their homes, friends and family units destroyed, and livelihoods lost. They are looking for someone to blame, and we happen to be it."

Ironhide's response had been cold. "Doesn't make it right. We shed energon for those ungrateful fraggers. Not our fault that their Emirate had a big mouth and ego to match, and the 'Con leader wasn't much better."

Prowl had interjected grimly at this point. "While I cannot say I disagree, and I am certain that everyone here shares your beliefs to a point, their Emirate and those in power in Simfur are among the dead and missing. It is likely preferable for the survivors to blame the living rather than the dead for what happened."

Ironhide had snorted. "Still don't make it right. The Emirate and his council called the Decepticons cowards and practically invited them to their doorstep. If the survivors don't wanna blame the dead, they should be blamin' the 'Cons instead of us."

He let out a sharp intake. "I know I blame 'em. Lost a lotta mechs out there, Prowl. I may not have liked a lot of 'em, but we lost mechs we couldn't afford because of the Emirate's big mouth and Buckethead's ego."

Without another word, he turned and stalked out of the room.

It didn't take long for the word to get out, and Optimus believed that this was the beginning of the souring of relations between the Neutrals and the Autobots. The words were seen by the army at large as an insult to those who had fought and died or were injured; almost as if they had wasted their time in helping a city which had turned out to be ungrateful for their efforts. From then on, the rank and file acted coldly towards any Neutral who approached them, and eventually, the Neutrals returned the favor. As time went on, Prime would find himself wondering just how many potential recruits they had lost due to words spoken by angry survivors of a lost city.

* * *

_Original planned start for chapter 14_

In the center of Kaon stands a circular black structure. From the outside, it appears old and run down, holes in the walls where panels of metal have fallen out. Cyberrats and other vermin creep around the holes and into the tunnels leading inside the building scavenging for whatever they can find. If one would walk through those tunnels, they would find dark remnants of this structure's past: Energon stains on the walls and floors, and if they were to go deeper, they would find cells and a room with a large cold furnace with what seem to be limbs and other parts scattered around.

But if one were to follow those tunnels up instead of down, they would find instead entrance ways that would lead to rows upon rows of seats, going up and around in a theater-like formation. Looking down towards the last row of chairs, half-eaten away by acid rain, one would see the barrier walls with what would seem to be barred gateways. The bars are half rusted, and some gaps exist to show where others have fallen away.

Beyond the wall is a large patch of ground with a chain and cuffs in the middle. The ground also has various stains of energon littering the ground. Old stains, which hint at a dark history.

A history about to be revisited.

For these grounds are no longer empty, and Kaon's gladiator arena is about to bear witness to another show...

_::Unit Punch to Commander Jazz::_

_::Jazz here. What's the word, Punch?::_

_::Megatron and the others left the cell unit a few kliks ago, according to Ramjet.::_

Silence for a moment.

_::And?::_

_::Still alive, apparently; though not for much longer if what Ramjet said was true.::_

_::What else did he say, Punch?::_

_::He doesn't know why, but Megatron gave Starscream to Stormraiser and the other Seekers to deal with. According to him, Stormraiser doesn't know why either, but doesn't really care.::_

_::Anything else?::_

_::They've sent for the base medic, to repair him enough so that he'll survive for whatever Stormraiser has planned. Once finished, he's to be transported to the arena in the center of Kaon.::_

Stormraiser just stood at the entranceway to the arena grounds, a cold smirk on his face as he watched two of Shockwave's drones fasten the unconscious Seeker to the ground in a kneeling position. The jet had a massive hole in his right wing, and most of the lower half of his right arm was melted off, along with most of the armor on the right side of his chassis. All the circuitry in those areas were burned away, and the exposed protoform that could be seen was also heavily damaged, and would require some transplants to be functional again. Since the arm was deemed to be useless and the Seeker had no weapons now, only one of his wrists was cuffed and hooked up.

However, the mech would never have the chance to receive the medical care he needed, reflected the Air Commander with some satisfaction...

_Megatron turned away from the unconscious Seeker hanging on the wall. His gaze fixed on Stormraiser, who stiffened at the sight of the Warlord's attention, his face immediately going slack. A cold smile crossed the Decepticon leader's face._

_"Stormraiser, since you and your Trine performed so well, I have a...reward for you."_

_Stormraiser's optics widened briefly at the words. "A reward, Sire?"_

_A cold, dark laugh. "Oh, yes." He glanced back at the Seeker on the wall for a moment with the same cold smirk. "A very _special _reward."_

For whatever reason, Lord Megatron had decided to hand the traitor over to he and the other Seekers. It _had_ been a surprise that his lord hadn't finished the job, but Stormraiser wasn't going to question the Decepticon leader's decision. Not this time. He'd been given a perfect opportunity, one which he wouldn't waste.

Once the drones were finished, he dismissed them. Once they had left, he turned to his Trinemates. "Skywarp, you and I will go fetch the others. Thundercracker, stay and guard the prisoner."

Thundercracker nodded, but Skywarp glared at his Trineleader. "How come he gets to guard the traitor and I don't? You know I've been looking forward to this!"

"Yes, but we need him alive for the demonstration, and you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself before the others arrived," Stormraiser stated calmly, well-used to his Third's petulance and his enjoyment of violence. "Besides, wouldn't it be more entertaining if there was an audience?"

Skywarp looked thoughtfully over at the chained Seeker at that comment. Then the glare faded, to be replaced by a very cruel grin. "Yeah. Yeah, it would."


	3. Thundercracker: Respect

**A/N: **Basically, this is a reconstructed scene initially planned for Chapter 14, describing TC's thoughts regarding Starscream and why he started the conversation. My original idea was doing the entire conversation from TC's POV, but in the end, I backed off from it. I just was just too uncertain about whether I could get into his head well enough to speak in his voice. So I went back to Starscream's POV. Even looking at this now, I'm still not 100% sure I managed it well enough.

I'll let you readers be the judge, however, seeing as I'll be having to write TC in more depth at some point (whether for this or another story I'm working on) and wouldn't mind advice on the matter.

Here is what I imagined was in his head just prior to the conversation.

* * *

Thundercracker gazed at the chained Seeker sitting on the far side of the arena, pondering as he did so.

Specifically about the failed attack on Vos by the Senate.

He could remember so clearly even now the day of the attack, the cries to mobilize, the panic of the handful of civilian Seekers (who hadn't been made aware of the attack like the military had been) as the alarms went off, the taking to the skies and driving off the attackers. And, once the battle was over and the dead counted and gathered for smelting, the rage that took Vos over the fact that the Senate would dare attack them, just because they were afraid of what _might_ happen.

_Silverwing, Torrent, Starshatter, Skytwist..._

Those names along with so many others were seared into Thundercracker's Spark. Seekers he'd grown up with, had known for vorns, fought alongside in the early orns of the war just before the attack...If he'd ever been hesitant about this war before that orn, their deaths had erased those doubts, and all that was left was the rage that his home was nearly destroyed.

For hundreds of vorns, he threw himself into fighting the Autobots, never questioning what he was doing. As far as he was concerned, they were Senate flunkies fighting for a corrupt system and deserved what they got for it. Skywarp agreed completely, as did Stormraiser, and all of them fought harder than they'd ever had.

Then had come Simfur and Copperwire's report: A Seeker had fought alongside the Autobots there. A report confirmed by one of the grounders who'd also seen and then shot him.

That had shaken Thundercracker then, though he'd been careful not to betray that to anyone else. Why would a Seeker fight with Senate flunkies? He could remember how the shock had mingled with a sense of betrayal, and the old anger. As time went on, and more details of the rogue tetrajet became known, those emotions became tangled with the original curiosity. _Why?_

It didn't really make sense to Thundercracker why a Seeker who'd been subjected to such a public trial, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison (and it had certainly puzzled the blue Seeker why they hadn't just executed the mech) by the Senate would be so willing to fight for the Autobots.

Why a Vosian would turn their back on their native home, ignore the injustices his frametype and build faced?

Did he even know? Or care?

Shaking his head, Thundercracker turned his gaze to the ground as he recalled what came next.

The tension concerning the Autobot Seeker had increased when it had become clear that Megatron had seemed to be discounting Stormraiser's advice and abilities as Air Commander. His Trineleader had said little about it to he and Skywarp, but anyone with a working processor could guess that the Air Commander was no longer in Megatron's favor for some reason, and that the change had started soon after Stormraiser had had a private chat with Megatron one orn.

Most thought that Stormraiser had disparaged Soundwave or Shockwave one too many times. Skywarp and he knew better. They'd known their wingleader had found out some information on the Seeker and decided it would be a good idea to take it to Megatron. He'd not been pleased when he'd realized his attempt to curry favor had backfired on him.

But he hadn't taken it out on his wingmates. No, his anger was directed at the maimed Seeker now chained to the ground. The green-gray jet had been looking forward to the moment where the mech would die, whether at his hands or another's, something Skywarp agreed with completely. Not a single Seeker would mind seeing the show that Stormraiser had in mind...a show that Thundercracker was no longer certain he agreed with. Yes, in spite of his curiosity, he'd felt that any Seeker who'd betrayed Vos should suffer the penalty, but then he'd seen that Seeker fight, he'd seen that Seeker stand up to Megatron. For the first time, he'd found himself feeling a strange sort of respect for the mech, and the old curiosity reared its head, this time with new questions alongside the old.

Why did he he refuse and turn away from a chance at revenge? No doubt he was vilified for his history, and certainly he had to know by this point that refusing Megatron would gain him nothing but death, and yet he chose to stand with those who hated him. What held him there? Why would he stay away?

Who _was_ this Starscream?

The rattling of a chain brought Thundercracker out of his thoughts. A glance towards the opposite end of the arena showed him that the tri-colored jet was once more online.

Thundercracker stepped forward.

It was time to get his answers.


	4. Morphed segments 1

**A/N: ** The following pieces were those I'd initially written to start chapters 10 &amp; 12, but wrote myself into a corner on. So I started again. As I wrote the new opening scenes for both chapters I realized I could incorporate what I'd initially written for them, only instead of scenes, they could be relegated to mentions, but enough would be put in from them both to add a little "meat" to the story, as it were.

**Chapter 10**: The scene I initially had in mind was an Officers' Meeting 3 orns after the conversation between Mirage and Starscream in the previous chapter, when the investigation was complete. The meeting became Wheeljack's thoughts instead during his conversation with Starscream in the Rec Room following those events.

**Chapter 12: ** I started out the chapter with the intent of writing the encounter between Jazz and Prime as regards the rescue mission for Starscream. Again, it became Jazz's thoughts after Mirage asked about Prime's orders instead. That one is more of a snippet than a true scene.

Here they are as I initally wrote them. Again, these are reconstructed from memory with the help of what I had in the story.

* * *

_Morphed opening scene #1 - Chapter 10_

"And I'm tellin' ya, we need ta attack Kaon now!" roared Ironhide angrily.

He was furious. Like a lot of other Autobots, he believed the 'Cons had been the ones responsible for the fall of Altihex eleven orns prior. Sure, the proof may not be there, but he was certain of it. He'd known mechs from that city-state, visited it frequently prior to the war, and knew of the system they used to monitor the engines. He had too hard a time believing it was just simple engine failure, not with the fail-safes they had in place.

It had to be the 'Cons. Ironhide knew it instinctively. They'd destroyed one city-state already for little good reason and Ironhide wouldn't put it past them to have done it again.

Unfortunately, Ironhide was receiving no help from either his Commander or the SIC.

"Ironhide, we've been over this. We simply don't have proof the Decepticons were behind what happened to the city," Optimus said tiredly. This argument had been going on for about two joors now. "If we had solid proof of any kind..." He glanced at Jazz.

The silver mech shook his head. "If they had anythin' to do with it, they aint keepin' the info at their main base," he said grimly. The only thing Punch had reported to him that seemed off were a lot of visits to the base by Shockwave prior to the fall. Considering he seemed to prefer Tarn to Kaon, it did seem odd enough to catch his spy's attention. But Punch had been unable to get close enough the War Room to hear the conversations between the officers or even plant a recorder.

Sure, he'd sent agents to Tarn before, but none had returned. At least not with full processor power. Jazz's mouth became a thin line at that thought.

Ironhide opened his mouth to speak again, only to be cut off by Prowl. "Ironhide, even if we did have evidence of any kind, we simply do not have the mechpower or resources to mount a full attack on the city-state. It is far too well-defended for that." He personally wouldn't mind launching an attack on the main Decepticon base, but the odds of a full attack succeeding were far too low at this time to justify sending what they _did _have.

Ironhide glared at Prowl. "And whose fault is it that our mechpower is low?" he growled. He wasn't going to forget what Prowl had pulled concerning Simfur with some of his trainees, liked or not, anytime soon. They'd had more skilled regiments, and Prowl had decided to send the least prepared mechs out there. Sure, most of them wouldn't have likely survived the rigors of war, but he'd hoped to have at least prepared them to live a few more vorns than they'd had.

Prowl's optics narrowed at the reminder, but his face showed no emotion beyond that.

Having made his point, the Weapons Specialist went back to his main point. "Slag it all, Prime! Ya know as well as I do that it had to be the 'Cons who did this! That system didn't fail all by itself!" He shook his head angrily. "We let 'em get away with Simfur! We can't let 'em get away with this! There has to be somethin'...!"

"Actually," a cool voice from the other end of the table interjected at this point, "there might be."

Optimus glanced at the mech who spoke, raising a browridge. This was unexpected. "Proceed, Perceptor," he ordered, hoping his Chief Science Officer could give some answers.

The microscope mech nodded. "As you know, I and my team were assigned to do a scan of the remains of Altihex's engines to see if we could determine any possible causes for the complete engine failure. During the scans, we discovered traces of what appeared to be dead nanites attached to the engine system. Further scans determined that not only had these nanites contained a virus, but they had bonded to the engine system. We suspect from the results that it was a nanovirus which caused a cascade failure in the engines, resulting in the fall of Altihex."

_That_ got the attention of everyone at the table. "Wait a nanoklik," Jazz began slowly. "It sounds ta me like you're suggestin' that the engine failure _wasn't_ an accident, that the 'Cons _do_ have a new weapon."

Perceptor nodded grimly. "It is highly likely," he confirmed.

A grim silence fell over the room for a few kliks, broken by the Security Director.

"What would the threat be to us?" he requested nervously. If what Perceptor said was true, then that meant the Autobots were at risk, since not only had they brought back a handful of survivors, the Science team had also been exposed..."We should scan the survivors. Now. Before the virus spreads. Not to mention that you and your team..."

Ratchet broke in at that point. "I did very thorough scans on them as a baseline for their files when they enlisted, Red. There was no trace of any virus on them at that time, and we would have seen symptoms by now even if my scans managed to miss it."

Red was barely mollified. "Even granting that, the Science team should still be looked over."

Wheeljack interjected at this point. "We scanned ourselves and went through decontamination to be sure. There was no trace in our systems. We also smelted those engines to make sure it wouldn't spread."

Red Alert wasn't quite satisfied, but before he could say anything else, Prowl interjected at this point. "Is there any way we could replicate it for our own use?" he asked coolly. As Ironhide opened his mouth to object, the Autobot SIC cut him off, stating calmly, "It would give us an advantage over them. We need all we can get if we are to win this war."

A stunned silence fell over the table at those words. Optimus frowned. While he agreed that they did need an advantage over the Decepticons, doing something like this would bring them down to their level.

Before he could voice these thoughts, though, Perceptor finally spoke up, shaking his head as he did so. "No. And even if there were a way to, it is more than likely that the creator of the nanovirus already has a cure for it in case we tried, making our attempts futile." He met Prowl's gaze impassively. "Not to mention the chances of virus mutation or accidental release and infection could occur are very high. No one on my team has experience with virus creation."

Optimus' optics flicked over towards Perceptor at those last words, knowing very well that he was lying, but also knowing why. Starscream did have a background in Biomechanics, but he was not inclined to involve himself in weapons creation too deeply, particularly one of that kind. He hated being considered as a weapon, not to mention that Simfur had left a very deep mark on him.

Still, Prowl was right about one thing. They needed an advantage, and they needed it now. Viral weapons were off the table, he wouldn't risk his mechs like that, but there were other types of weapons...

He turned his gaze towards Wheeljack and Perceptor, cutting off Prowl's arguments that such a weapon would be worth the risk with the words, "If it is indeed too great a risk to create such a virus, I have another suggestion."

**_And about here was where I ran into a wall._**

* * *

_Morphed snippet scene #2 - Chapter 12_

Optimus Prime gazed out the window of his office for a few kliks, barely seeing the inhabitants of the city going through the motions of orn to orn life. His mind was on the meeting that had just broken up about twenty kliks before, and what Jazz had had to say following it.

Speaking of which...

He turned to face Jazz, asking quietly, "You're sure of your suspicions?"

Jazz nodded coldly. "Hound's was the only one that didn't mesh with the others," he said flatly, though his tense frame belied the tone.

Optimus turned back to the window. At his core, he felt tired. He had assigned Starscream to that mission, what should have been a simple scouting one and it had gone wrong somehow. Grimly, he went over his options, which he admitted were damned limited and had no good outcomes for anyone. Prowl, Ironhide and Red Alert had already indicated their opinions of the mech, so any open missions sent out would leave him open to accusations of favoritism and would not help Starscream in future, if he was alive. Not to mention he had already heard of a few of the rumors, thanks to Ratchet. On the other hand, if Starscream _was_ alive, then just abandoning him to his fate would create an enemy, and the tetrajet had already been betrayed enough...

"Prime. Orders?" Jazz's voice broke into his thoughts.

The Autobot leader turned to look at Jazz. "I will mark Starscream as MIA in the system," he began. "There's little else I can do officially at the moment since we don't know for certain if he is dead or alive."

Jazz raised a browridge, puzzled. "Ya sure ya want ta do that, Boss 'Bot?"

Optimus nodded. "You know I can't be seen to play favorites, Jazz." He turned back to gaze out the window, continuing calmly as he did, "But if someone were to make an attempt to locate him or determine his status and decided to do so without my knowledge or sanction, I couldn't stop them."

Jazz grinned inwardly even as he responded coolly to his Commander, "Understood."

**_Again, hit a wall here._**


	5. The Paths Not Taken 2

Hey, there guys! Here's a few more Outtakes for you. All three were original opening scenes for chapters 16 &amp; 17\. Wanted to wait until I had Chapter 17 up before I posted this.

Chapter 16 isn't too much changed from the original scene which I ended up using for the story. Just a little of the wording is altered and was shifted slightly down in order.

The two original openings for Chapter 17 were done when I was trying to come up with a good interlude scene. Unfortunately, I couldn't make them work. These were also written during my NaNoWriMo attempt, which is probably the only notable thing about them.

Enjoy!

To **largomolo**, if they are reading this. I did attempt to reply to your review for Pariah through the site, but found you had the PM function off so am answering here. To answer your question, while the main story will be going into the Ark launch next chapter, I do plan to cover some of the gap with side-stories, and yes, that will be one of them.

* * *

_Original Ch. 16 opening_

_**Kaon Airspace**_  
_Shuttlecraft Wisp_

Jazz and Mirage watched the pirated broadcast grimly. As the whip came down and tore into Starscream's undamaged wing, Mirage couldn't help but wince. The Seeker, on the other hand, didn't even cry out, though his optics were glowing brightly.

Jazz just shook his head. They'd cut it too fine. "Time ta move."

Mirage silently agreed. He glanced at his superior. "Jazz?"

The silver mech nodded, his face hard. "Ya know what ta do."

Mirage set the shuttle's autopilot to land on the roof of a building closest to the arena.

Once they'd landed, Jazz gave Mirage his final instructions.

"Punch told me the few 'surprises' Ah requested are ready, and he'll be settin' them off in two kliks. Once that happens, ya and Hoist have three breems ta get in, get Screams, and get back ta the shuttle."

Mirage nodded. As Jazz commed Hoist to give him those same instructions, he ventured, "I assume you have a surprise of your own to set off to facilitate our escape?"

Jazz grinned coldly. "Ah think that stadium has stood long enough, wouldn't ya agree?"

Mirage gave a thin half-smile at the implication. "Understood."

Before he could speak further, Hoist stepped out, his stance a bit nervous.

Jazz merely nodded at the other mech, then glanced at Mirage. Mirage nodded in return and stepped up to Hoist, activating his disruptor as he did so.

It was time to get to work.

* * *

_First Ch. 17 opening (attempt at interlude without time skip)_

"Hey, Mirage."

The spy turned his head from the conversation he'd been observing between Trailbreaker and Hound to see the Chief Engineer standing in front of him, his posture a bit pensive.

He gave a small smile and nodded at the other mech. "Hello, Wheeljack." He sipped at his ration. "What brings you to the Commissary this time of day cycle? Usually you're either in your lab or sitting at Starscream's berthside."

Wheeljack's headfins flashed a light green. "Yeah, about that...May I join you a moment?"

Curious now, the former noble answered, "Of course." He shifted to allow some room for the green and white mech. As soon as Wheeljack sat down, he asked, "What is this about? Normally you don't come looking for me. I'm usually the one seeking others out." An amused glint appeared in his yellow optics.

Wheeljack gave a small smile behind his mask, but his posture didn't relax. He glanced around the room cautiously, then spoke in a low voice: "You'll probably be hearing the official announcement soon, but Starscream's awake."

Mirage's optics widened fractionally. He glanced over towards Hound and Trailbreaker, who had apparently overheard what Wheeljack had said. A frown from him had them returning to their conversation. _I'll have to have a word with them both once Wheeljack leaves. _

Turning his attention back to the other mech, he responded, "Is he now?"

Wheeljack had noticed the other two's reaction as well and lowered his voice even further. "Yeah. About half a joor ago, he came out of stasis. Ratch and Hoist will be performing the surgery to put his wings and arm back on during next day cycle. Then he's confined to the medbay for the next six orns to relearn how to use the arm and let it and the wing get a bit more strength before the armor gets put back on."

He sipped at the ration he'd been holding, then set it on the table. "Just so you know, Perceptor and I decided not to say anything to him about what Hound did. Starscream's never thought negatively about Hound and has been more curious than anything else about his animosity. No point in giving him a reason to hate Hound when things have already been dealt with." He glanced at the two other mechs, both still chatting quietly, but judging from a sudden shift in Hound's field, he'd heard what Wheeljack had said. He turned his attention back to the racer, who nodded.

"Fair enough. I assume you didn't wish to inform me of just this, however," he replied. He'd noticed both the glance and the field shift. Yes, he would definitely need to speak with Hound later. Since the "discipline" Jazz had had him inflict, and after the chat the four of them had had following Starscream's return to the base, Hound and Trailbreaker both had been waiting to find out what Starscream would do. Mirage would need to make sure they would go along with Wheeljack and Perceptor's decision.

Wheeljack shook his head. "No. He asked to speak with you."

Mirage was startled by this statement. Starscream and he had never spoken after that one conversation they'd had. While he'd hoped to make an attempt to cultivate a friendship with the other mech, he certainly hadn't expected the tetrajet to approach him. "Did he say why?"

Another shake of the head. "No. Just that it was important. He was kind of drifting into recharge, so I didn't have the chance to ask." He picked up the ration from the table again. "He frowned right before he asked me to let you know he wanted to talk to you."

Mirage thought a moment. They had all the reports back from the mission that Starscream had been sent on. All but his, anyway. Prime and Jazz had decided to wait and see if he'd pull through before asking for his own statement about what had happened. If the worst happened, though, Prime had given Ratchet permission to go into his memory banks to determine what had occurred. When Ratchet had given the word that Starscream was out of danger, the decision had been made to let him recover a bit before making the request. But it seemed that Starscream had decided to give his own report, independently of High Command's decision.

Even so, it was odd that the jet had asked to speak to _him_, rather than Prime. The blue and white's curiosity was piqued. What would make Starscream single him out, over going to Prime?

Finally, he spoke to Wheeljack again.

"Thank you for telling me this. I'll see him as soon as Ratchet finishes the surgery. I'd also like to let Jazz know about this first."

Wheeljack nodded. "Gotcha. You want me to let him know you're coming?"

Mirage didn't answer for a long moment, then finally: "Just let him know you've passed along the message, and I'll be down as soon as I am able."

"No problem." was the other mech's reply.

He rose from his seat. "Need to get back to the lab. I'll see you later."

_**Was having a bit of trouble moving on from there, so quit with this.**_

* * *

_Second Ch. 17 opening (attempt with time skip)_

"Starscream?"

Starscream looked up from the project he was working on at his table and turned around, giving a slight smile to the figure in the doorway.

"Hello, Jack," he said calmly and turned back to set down his tools. "What can I do for you?"

Wheeljack took the question as an invitation and came into the part of the lab that Starscream had claimed for his own. He sat down on a small stool next to the table and watched as Starscream turned himself back around so he was looking at Jack. He gave a brief shrug. "Nothing really. Just wanted to see how you were doing. You've been locked up in either your room or your lab a lot lately. Haven't talked to Percy or I in a couple orns, and we got worried." His optic fins flashed a very dark green.

A flicker of bitterness appeared in Starscream's optics. "Can you blame me?" he asked harshly. Wheeljack could hear the simmering anger in those words. "You heard as well as I did what happened to Praxus. You_ know_ what was done. What's being said."

Wheeljack nodded glumly. He knew, all right. In the ten thousand vorns since Starscream's capture and rescue, the fighting had gotten far worse. About one thousand vorns after those events, Crystal City had fallen. Reports from surviving witnesses stated that it was the city's own creators, the Constructors, that had caused the protective dome to collapse. Just following it, had come the attack. An attack that had left only about three thousand alive in the ruins when it was all over, the majority of whom were from the lower and middle castes. The images had been far from easy to look at, reflected Wheeljack. Images of charred, twisted masses of metal displayed all that was left of the buildings of the city; the grayed out corpses and dismembered limbs that littered the streets, the shards of the dome laying scattered all over the wreckage...Even with all that had happened before and since, he still felt a bit sickened by the memory.

Everything had been leveled, not least of all the Towers and Science Academy. According to a survivor (one of the cleaning mechs, who had been trapped under a couple of fallen pillars), the Decepticons had seemed to take great pleasure in completely obliterating the place where he, Perceptor and Starscream had worked for so long. Mechs seen trying to flee were shot on sight. Not that there were many of those, as most died in the first blasts. As for the Towers, there was cheering as the Seekers blew it down, with the ground-based tankformers shooting any survivors who'd tried to escape. It didn't seem to matter to them if any of the nobles who'd escaped had been sympathizers to their cause or not.

About thirteen nobles had survived when all was said and done, the only reason being they'd been outside of the Towers at the time: eight mechs and five femmes. Three of the femmes had been taken into Elita-One's unit, and four of the remaining eight mechs had joined the Autobots. The rest decided to take their chances in the ruins, along with the one thousand other survivors who'd elected not to join the Autobots. Optimus Prime had offered to see if he could find them a ship to leave in, when he learned of this, an offer all had accepted. Prime had found three non-sentient shuttles, and gave what supplies could be spared, and they'd gone. While the nobles in their ranks had been finding it less than easy thanks to a handful who hated them for their caste, they seemed to have come to the conclusion that they were as safe in the Autobots as they were anywhere else.

Starscream hadn't spoken to them for about three orns after he learned what had happened, and Mirage had apparently gotten slagging drunk in his quarters for roughly the same amount of time when the news had reached him. Wheeljack hadn't been surprised when Trailbreaker had related this. Even if neither had been back there in some time, that city had still been home to them once.

Not too long before the attack, a rumor had been ciruculating among the other officers that sometime after the rescue mission, an attempt had been made to "deal" with the Constructors, but they had disappeared. Apparently, they'd snuck back in and had been laying low for a while. Whether that was true or not, the Engineer had never found out. But with hindsight, if it was, then they'd likely had it planned for some time, and more than likely had help getting out and in.

It wasn't a pleasant thought, Wheeljack reflected.

Omega Supreme had vanished shortly after the attack, apparently to hunt the traitors down, but from all accounts, he hadn't yet found them.

Praxus, though...

Praxus had been far, far worse. Mainly because no one had expected it to happen. Though perhaps they should have, considering how many recruits had come to the Autobots from that city, not to mention all the other city-states that had gone down.

Perhaps they'd just gotten somewhat complacent, since there had been many battles and skirmishes since Crystal City, and there was no doubt that High Command was wary about the notion of it happening again. But as time had gone on and there had been no major attacks on that scale, they'd more than likely let their guards drop just a little.

And that had turned out to be a serious mistake.

Ten orns ago, during early morning cycle, the Decepticons had attacked Praxus. Most had been in recharge at that time, with the only ones awake being those handful of Enforcers and medics on their respective shifts. There'd been no time for the alarm to go out, and given how fast it had come and who it was attacking, it likely wouldn't have mattered anyway. The Seekers had been far too thorough.

Everything was gone, the Gardens, the university...everything. Buildings completely collapsed, bridges that had been there for about five hundred thousand vorns all gone in an instant. Only two hundred mechs and femmes had been pulled alive from the rubble. Two hundred out of seven hundred fifty thousand. About fifty of those two hundred survivors died later from their injuries.

It had been an Enforcer who'd survived the attack that had managed to get word out to Iacon with the details, and he hadn't dared do so for at least a joor after the attack ceased. When the mech had been confronted about that by Prowl, who'd felt that if they'd learned sooner, there might have been more survivors, that mech had snapped, _"For all I knew, they had merely pulled back to wait for any signs of survivors so they could finish the job. I waited to be sure they were gone. What would you have done differently?"_ Prowl had been furious about what he saw as insubordination, but had eventually conceded the point.

One of the survivors of Praxus had been an Autobot soldier who had just gone home on leave, a mech by the designation of Bluestreak. He had not yet awakened from stasis, though Ratchet was sure he would survive. A friend of his, Smokescreen, had been visiting every single day cycle since from what Wheeljack knew.

But with the news that it had been Seekers primarily responsible, judging from the account of the Enforcer survivor, Starscream's life had suddenly become a living Pit.

His room had been broken into and vandalized three times during the first five orns following Praxus, furniture torn from their places and broken and tossed around, with very cruel epithets spray-painted onto the walls such as "Murderer", "City-Destroyer", "Go back to the Decepticons, Seeker slag". It didn't seem to occur to those fraggers that Starscream had once been captured and tortured by those same Decepticons. Or they didn't care, thought Wheeljack bitterly.

The attacks had mysteriously stopped after five orns, or perhaps not so mysteriously, thought Wheeljack with grim amusement. It had been noticed by both he and Perceptor that Jazz and Mirage both were seeming very satisfied with themselves of late. Said satisfaction had started with Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Tracks being found welded to the Commissary ceiling with their limbs missing, later found in a storage closet. Red Alert had claimed to see nothing, though he'd given that denial after spotting Jazz leaning against the Commissary wall next to the door, a cool smirk on his face. No one had tried to break into Starscream's room since.

But even if the vandalism had stopped, the verbal abuse had not. Starscream couldn't go anywhere in the base without someone, even those who'd been neutral to him before, making comments very similar to what was on the walls.

Prime had approached Starscream as soon as he'd learned of the first break-in, and offered to transfer him temporarily to one of the smaller bases, to allow some time for him to do damage control and for the situation to settle a bit. For whatever reason (and Wheeljack suspected it had a lot to do with Starscream's refusal to run away), the Seeker declined. The Engineer wondered if Prime had asked Jazz to deal with the vandals once he learned who they were, considering the next two incidents had occurred after he'd made a base-wide announcement that he would not tolerate any attempts to harrass other mechs on his base for whatever reason, and if they had proof of possible disloyalty in any Autobot, it should be reported directly to him. While he hadn't named Starscream specifically, there wasn't any doubt about who he meant. It wouldn't surprise Wheeljack if Prime had finally taken that action after being so blatantly ignored.

Aloud, Wheeljack said quietly, "I know. Just give it time, Starscream." Even he had to admit, though, it sounded like a dumb thing to say.

Judging from the angry look on Starscream's face, he thought the same. "Time," he spat. "Time won't ever fix anything, Wheeljack. I'm blamed for Praxus even though I wasn't even there," he snarled.

_**This one was stopped here due to my not really being sure I liked the direction it was going.**_


	6. Morphed Segments 2

Hey all, been a while since I posted anything for this, but until now, I didn't have enough for a chapter. Now, I do, and here you go, complete with explanations. ^_^

_**Chapter 17:**_ When I decided to change course for the Interlude chapter, I also decided to start out with Ironhide's POV instead of Wheeljack's and Mirage's. Went through two editions. The scene as listed here was the first, and opened up with Ironhide witnessing the beginnings of an altercation between Starscream and Cliffjumper. Then I realized that it was heading in a different direction from what I'd started with, and Ironhide's exposition would go on too long before it got to the fight. So I scrapped it and started over, using a different take and character. Also rewrote some of the exposition.

_**Chapter 20:**_ This was initially supposed to be the segment which wound up the first scene in chapter 20, where Starscream was talking to Mirage. After Mirage leaves, Starscream begins pondering what Mirage told him, only to be interrupted by Hoist telling him that the _Ark_ was ready. But I just couldn't find a good way to end the scene using Hoist, so stopped here and switched over to using Wheeljack.

_**Chapter 21:**_ Was having a ton of trouble writing out the opening scene for this. Trying to figure out where I was going wrong, and wanting to check on a detail I thought might not be correct, I went back to chapter 20. I found out I got more than one thing wrong with Starscream's behavior. So I ended up rewriting everything.

* * *

_ Original opening scene for Chapter 17 _

_**This scene was composed when I'd initially intended to start the chapter with a fight starting between Cliffjumper and Starscream**_

"What the frag are you doing here, Seeker?!"

Ironhide looked up from the target practice he'd been doing to see Cliffjumper standing just inside the doorway of the Training Room. In front of him, staring down coldly, was Starscream.

Ironhide kept his own gaze impassive as he watched the scene. He hadn't been in the same room as Starscream since he'd sent him out on that mission nearly fifty orns ago. Not that he'd really expected to, he reflected. Like Prowl, he'd thought the mech had deserted when he'd heard those reports, and good riddance.

Then Hound had turned up in the medbay, something Ironhide had learned when he'd come in to get a shoulder worked on where he'd damaged some of the struts, and had seen Ratchet operating on the scout. The mech was covered in dents from head to toe, and it looked like his hologram disruptor had been half taken off. When Ironhide had asked what happened, since it wasn't like Hound to tick off anyone that bad, not to mention there'd been no reports of Hound taking any serious injury in that mission he'd just returned from, Ratchet's mouth became a thin line. Finally, after a couple of kliks, he lifted his head and said with a flat tone: "Ask Jazz."

Ironhide didn't ask anymore questions, but he did wonder just what exactly had caused Jazz to get so slagged off that he'd either beat Hound or have the beating ordered. He'd known Hound had argued with Jazz just before that mission, but had thought Hound had been gone long enough for the silver mech to have calmed down.

Then, shortly after that brief exchange in the medbay, Jazz and Mirage had headed off for that mission. Soon after, it came to light that Hoist was also missing and Ratchet was being closed-mouthed on that. And to make things more interesting, neither Hound nor Trailbreaker would say anything about what had caused the green mech to be beaten. Had sure made for a lot of gossip once that was known.

_ **Started to get bogged down at this point, so abandoned this angle.** _

* * *

_ Snippet scene from Chapter 20 _

_**Follows the conversation in Chapter 20 between Starscream and Mirage**_

For several kliks after he left, Starscream just sat leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling of the Commissary. The voices still swirled around him, but Starscream was no longer listening, too lost in his thoughts to pay attention.

So the Decepticons knew. And, if he was reading in-between the lines correctly, they were making their own plans to leave...

_Primus._

Starscream sipped his energon. He didn't know what he should do. Being in stasis carried its own risks, with every possibility of going off-line if the facility was attacked, or just from neglect. Staying awake to hold the line also courted deactivation, also. Not to mention there was no way to know just how long the _Ark_ would be gone...

But would it be worth it? To be stuck on a ship with mechs who by and large didn't give a slag about him? He knew Perceptor wasn't going, from a few things he'd let slip. Wheeljack was, though...So were Prime and Ratchet...

The tri-color shook his head, and finished his ration. _Some choices._ And if Mirage's news was any indication, he might have less time than he thought to decide his course of action...

_*ping*_

With a frown, Starscream turned on his internal comm. _::Starscream here.::_

_::Hey, Starscream!::_ Hoist replied. _::Wheeljack and Prime said you wanted to see the_ Ark _when it was done.::_

Starscream's optics widened. He'd nearly forgotten that request to Prime he'd made at the time he'd given the coordinates. _::I did::_, he confirmed to the other mech. _::I take it it's done?::_

_::Yep!::_ came back the cheery response.

_ **Got to this point before I realized it didn't feel right, so shifted gears.** _

* * *

_ Original opening scene for Chapter 21 _

So this is your decision?" Optimus Prime asked the mech in front of him.

Starscream nodded. "It is."

The Autobot leader frowned behind his mask. As much as he'd found himself hoping that the jet would accompany him, he'd also known it wouldn't be a good idea to force the issue should Starscream decide otherwise. Nor would he have blamed him if he _had_ decided against going, given the memories of his last expedition and the aftermath. His hatred of the Senate and Science Council (even after all this time) had been clear to Optimus when he'd put the question to Starscream for the coordinates of those worlds. Forcing the Seeker to go, he'd known then, would break the trust that Starscream had placed in him so long ago. He might forgive the manipulations Optimus had used from time to time to get him to see the big picture or calm his rage, but forcing him to do what he didn't want to do would certainly be seen as an unforgiveable offence. Plus, there was still the matter of how the other Autobots saw him. While some had come around over the vorns to at least respect his fighting ability, many still hated him and the fact he was allowed to remain in the core army. He'd related his thoughts on the matter to Jazz when the spy had asked about it, and the spy had agreed it was best not to force the issue.

Speaking of which...

The Autobot leader leaned forward. "Starscream, I've heard from Jazz that Mirage approached you on this matter."

Starscream nodded. "He did." The jet frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I made it clear that Special Ops was not to approach you in regards to going on board the _Ark_. Mainly, they weren't to pressure you in any way. Jazz agreed to this," the Autobot leader replied, his tone as neutral as he could manage. Jazz had told him that Mirage informed him that he _hadn't_ done so, but he wanted to hear it from Starscream as well, to be sure.

"I see." Starscream gave a thin half-smile. "I can assure you he didn't, Prime. I won't deny he strongly hinted that he felt I should go, but he put no pressure on me to make a decision. That came later, after I found out from Wheeljack about who among the commnd staff was going. Among other things." There was some irritation in his voice, and Prime had no trouble understanding why.

He leaned back in his seat. "I do apologize for not saying something sooner, Starscream. The reason for my silence was simply so that you didn't feel like I was pushing you into a decision if you didn't want to go along on the mission. Nothing more or less. I did intend to speak to you about it before we left, to prepare you in that instance. There was no malicious intent."

Starscream gave a soft snort and looked away.

Optimus just shook his head. "It is the truth, Starscream," he said firmly. "And I think you know that."

Another thin smile appeared on his face as he looked back towards the Prime. "I do. It doesn't mean I have to like it," he replied.

"No, you don't," the red and blue mech agreed. "But I only ask you try and accept it."

The other mech grimaced. "I'll try," he whispered. "All I can promise."

_**Was around here I realized I needed to check something in chapter 20 to see if it meshed and realized that I'd gotten not just that, but a few other details wrong. Had to come back and scrap this, following it up with a rewrite.**_


End file.
